NedCan week 2018
by HetaliaDutch
Summary: A set of unrelated stories for NedCan week 2018.
1. Ghost ships and a bloodstone

_Johan – Netherlands_

 _Maddie/Madeline – Canada_

* * *

"Tell me one of your scary stories." She said softly.

"One of my scary stories?" Johan asked as he tried to find the candles he kept in the closet in case of emergency.

"We all have them." Madeline stated, while she listened to him moving things around.

" _I_ don't have a _lot_ of them though."

For a second, Madeline was blinded by a sudden light she had not expected. Then she saw Johan standing in front of her with a lit candle and a box of extra candles on the table. He motioned for her to make some room and sat down besides her on the couch. "This power failure could last a while, not exactly what I had in mind for your visit here."

Maddie smiled gently at him as she sat closer to him and Johan put his arm around her. "It's alright. Just tell me a story." She answered while she fixed the throw around them.

The man gave her a glance, before sighing and giving in to her. Johan would never understand how others could forget about her or see his Maddie as a shy and timid girl. He had only ever seen her as a strong, determined woman.

* * *

"Sailors used to say that a ship that had left but neither reached its destination or ever returned to its home haven, must either have sunk or still be sailing out there somewhere." He began. "I'll tell you about a ship, or the remnants of a ship that sometimes dooms up out of the fog that covers the waters. Sometimes a great, black bird is seen circling around the masts."

"I love the way you enjoy telling the story of the Flying Dutchman." She murmured.

He stared at her, almost offended.

"What's wrong?" she quickly inquired.

"Different story, different ship." He informed her. "For one, the ships sailed out from different harbours." She couldn't be sure in the light of the candle, but she thought he might be sulking.

Before she could ask him to continue his story, her other half already moved on.

"Another story then. I once had this small island, before the construction of the Afsluitdijk and turning the Zuiderzee into the Ijsselmeer, that had this story. On a specific spot on that island was a place where witches and warlocks gathered. On evenings like that the people of the island would stay inside. These nights, when clouds would pass in front of the full moon, a ship would sail through the sky above Schokland and the people of the islands knew that somewhere-"

"Another ship, Johan?" Madeline asked.

"This one sailed through the sky, it's different." He argued.

"You're just obsessed with ships, darling." She whispered in return.

"They're a part of my past, my golden age. Not even England had a merchant fleet as large as mine."

"I know."

"He only had around a 180 ships."

"Not a lot?" It must have been for the time.

"I had some 2500 merchant ships at the time." He stated proudly.

"You _are_ and _were_ obsessed." The Canadian woman said smiling bright. She loved it when this man besides here gave himself so completely to something.

"Maybe." Johan conceded.

* * *

Leaning against him, Maddie listend to Johan as he softly told her the story about a stone.

"…and in that lane, you can find the _Bloedsteen_."

"What is so special about that stone?"

"Like the name says, it's bleeds."

"It does _what_?"

Johan shrugged his shoulders. "It bleeds, but only during full moon and you have to stab it with a needle."

"A bloodstone?"

"Yes, stab it and blood comes flowing from the, well, the wound." He leaned forward to lit another candle and blow out the dying one. Sitting back he continued. "It's a relatively modern story."

"Our people will always come up with new stories."

"I'm just curious why they chose to focus on the stone. They could have made a ghost story about the burial mount beneath the maze at the end of the lane."

Maddie stared at him incredulously.

"The name of that lane is Doolhoflaan for a reason." He simply provided at the look she gave him.

* * *

 _Doolhof – maze_

 _Laan - lane_


	2. Wedding day

_Johan - Netherlands_

 _Henri - Luxembourg_

 _Emma - Belgium_

* * *

He is standing in front of the mirror. He is _still_ standing in front of that mirror. Was he really this vain? Checking his hair and tie once more, Johan couldn't stop himself. Everything had to be perfect. It wasn't common for him to be this nervous about something, but today is a very special day.

"Johan, broer, turn around." Ah, just what he needed. The voice of his baby brother to drag him out of his own thoughts and he did as the younger man told him to.

"What is it, Henri, broertje?" He asked, before darling little brother nearly strangled him with his own tie.

"Now it's straight. Don't think I did not notice that you were glaring at your tie."

Johan turned towards the mirror again to check if it really was straight.

"It's straight, don't you dare touch it."

* * *

".. find it hard to believe." Johan blinked and tried to focus and remember what Henri had been talking about.

"You are actually going to sign the most important document in your life." Henri continued and smiled happily at his brother.

"One of the most important." Johan corrected. "I'm a nation and I have duties to my people."

"No." His little brother argued. "The most important one, this one is just for you. And the one you love the most. It's special."

He opened his mouth to disagree, but simply closed it again. Opened it again. Closed it again. Madeline was special. She was his life since she had saved his life. Even with the lifespan of a nation, he wouldn't love another like he loved Canada.

* * *

The door opened slightly and Emma poked her head around the corner. With her typical grin, she looked at her brothers. "Are the both of you ready?" Shifting her gaze to look directly into Johan's eyes, his younger siblings were conspiring against him even on a day like this, she continued.

"Johan, your bride is ready and waiting for you to come pick her up."

Then Emma's smile turned into more of a smirk.

"Francis, Arthur and Alfred are waiting with her. Good luck."

That proved it, his sister was secretly wanted to see him suffer. She was enjoying the idea of him facing Maddie's family alone. Threatening him. Typically Emma.

* * *

 _Broer - brother_

 _Broertje - little brother_


	3. Family (and friends)

_Johan - Netherlands_

 _Henri - Luxembourg_

 _Maddie/Madeline - Canada_

 _Magnus - Denmark_

* * *

One minute Maddie had simply been making her way through one of her cities, another she was tackled from behind. A pair of arms wrapping around her waist. Before she could even react, a hand took hers and she heard a familiar voice. "Emma, you should not scare her like that. Hello Madeline."

Eh.. Henri. Maddie could never decide if he got his good manners from his brother or his sister. Usually she came to the conclusion he didn't get it from either of them. Luxembourg's manners were just to refined for blunt, maybe even rude, Netherlands or happy, uncaring, Belgium.

"Salut Henri, Emma. You can let go of me now." Though she mainly meant Emma, as she didn't try to shake of Henri's hand. "What are the two of you doing in my country? Not that I mind," Of course she didn't, they were her in-laws-to-be and Johan adored his younger siblings, still "but I don't think I forgot any kind of important, international meeting."

At that, Henri let go of Maddie's hand and stepped in front of her. Emma moved to stand besides her younger brother. "It's international." She said. Henri elaborated. "Marriage between two nations, on international level or not. Johan told us he proposed to you, Maddie, and that you said yes." He told her smiling.

He had already told his siblings. She should have known. They were so close and Johan wouldn't have been able to hide it even if he wanted to. Europe wasn't all that large and word travelled fast there. The BeNeLux was even smaller, Emma and Henri would noticed anyway.

"You know already, I haven't even told my family yet" Maddie admitted, they were just so busy. She couldn't always reach them and when she was able to, they seemed to forget that she was the one that called them. Telling her about their lives and hanging up on her before she could tell them what had happened in hers. Like being proposed to. Like being engaged. Like to be married.

Emma and Henri shared a look. "What?" She asked. "Well," Emma started "you know that Magnus is Johan's best friend. My brother doesn't share private things like this with many people." Belgium just sighed. "He does share it with Denmark," Henri supplied, "and he shares it with everyone." Maybe that's how some of the old world's rumour wildfires had started, the Canadian thought.

"He already told so many people?" the Canadian asked. "Just us three, and he probably told his government that he was going to do it." Henri responded. "Denmark would have known something was going on anyway." Emma provided.

Maddie simply took out her mobile phone. "I'll send something to Francis, Arthur and Alfred." Maddie muttered, as both Henri and Emma had both taken a hold of her hand and dragged her towards the more exciting parts of the city.

She had tried to call them. If they learned of the wedding just before it happened, it wasn't her fault, she had tried. Maddie just hoped her family would show up in time.


End file.
